Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 27

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1 > Part 27

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Social life in the new community ciaimed Its due. Neigiibors felt for each other a sentiment of warm and cordial attachment. They en- joyed each other sincerely and sought occasions, in a thrifty way, to combine pleasure with practicai profit. The ladies, for example, had at their homes gatherings called "bees," to which ali nearby dames were invited to spend the day

and assist at some household task requiring an enlarged force to perform. Such were the wooi pickIngs, the sewing bee, the quilting of bed covers or sewing carpet rags; the husking bee, in which the young people joined with the understanding that the finder of the first red ear, if a youth, was entitled to kiss the giri of his cholce; if a giri, the enterprising gentle- man who could catch her first migint demand a simllar salute. On these occasions most boun. tifui repast refreshed the laborers.

The oid play of the maiden and the swain was re-enacted-yet more than a play. In their cabins, with captivating grace, young ladies entertained young gentiemen, albeit they were sturdy tliiers of the soil. They were mar- ried and given In marriage as of old. The first wedding in the county or Its territory was that of Piilio Beers and Martha Stiliman, cele- brated November 2, 1820, ou Fancy Creek, Rev. Stephen England officiating as minister. Sangamon County had not then been legaliy constituted, but formed part of Madison County. A license to perform the ceremony was obtained at Edwardsville, the county seat of Madison County, sixty mlies away. Tradition inas it that both white and red men were guests at the bridai feast.

The secret social orders were not neglected. Sangamo Lodge No. 9, of Free Masons, ob- talned a charter bearing date October 25, 1822. to meet at Springfield, Stephen Stiliman acting as Master, Dr. Gershom Jayne as Senlor and John Moore as Junior Warden. Stiliman ap- peared to be au active cltizen in those early days. Beside having the honor of being brother to Martha Stillman, the first bride in the county, he was one of the Justices appointed upon the organization of the county, was Postmaster, served upon the grand jury that indicted Van Noy, Saugamon's first homicide, and represented the county as State Senator In the General Assembly which convened at Vandalla, the old capital, in 1824. Dr. Jarne opened the first doctor's office in Springfield in 1820.

The ploneer did not suffer from want of food. Both forest aud prairie contributed generousiy to ils family table. A.boarder (one of eight) at one of the nine cabins constituting Springfield when the historic stake was driven, notes the following as his bili of fare: "Fresh milk and butter, corn bread baked on a hoe (hence hoe- cake), honey, venison, turkey, pralrle chicken.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

quall, squirrel, fish, occasionaliy pig, and ail the vegetables raised in this climate. Deer were plentiful ; if we wanted venison one of the boys would go to the grove and kill a dcer."

The fowl and game mentioned above were wild, as was also the honey. A day's hunt in the woods would result in a rich reward of plun- der from the bee-tree's sweet store. Cattle and hogs gave little trouble. A bell was put on the cow, the pig was marked by cropping his ear and tail,-each owner having a private mark, -- after which the live-stock grazed upon the wiid grass, or munched herbs, acorns and nuts in the timber, until wanted hy their masters at milk- ing or killing time.

Health is a prime consideration, aiways and everywhere. The great foe of good heaith in new Illinois was commonly termed chills and fever. They were intermittent and tenacious. He was deemed a fortunate citizen who escaped his attack of ague and complete discomfiture as a consequence. After long and bitter ex- perience the populace grimly settled down to large doses of quinine in the fall and a two- weeks' course of sassafras tea in the spring, as the most effective remedial agencies to be adopted. Malarial conditions, probably arising from the decay of rank vegetation and stagnant water on the undrained flats, have been so cor- rected in later years as to cause this exasperat- ing scourge largely to disappear.

The testimony borne by Major Iles to the good character of the early settlers has been re- corded. Mr. Hay insists they possessed the average virtues of mankind. Kindness of dis- position was necessitated by the hardships many were called upon to endure and the meagerness of resources in time of trouble. But a few would steal, some were given to brawls and violence, some meanly slandered their neigh- bors; the far greater number sincerely sought to lay the foundation of an orderly society, having respect to the laws both of heaven and earth. Muitiplied schools and churches mingled their evidence with that of the somber whipping post, where tender hearted Sheriff Henry laid the lash on the bare back of the culprit thief as iightiy as possibie.

Conditions generally tended to cultivate brav- ery, fortitude, self-reliance and shrewdness. The wolf prowled about, more alarming perhaps to children than men; startled women encoun- tered panthers in the woods and bold hunters

toid of having slain the American iion close by, some specimens which measured eleven fcet from tip to tip; an occasional Indian, approach- ing with stealthy tread suddenly appeared at the door, bringing to mind terrible tales of the cruelty and treachery of his race; and solitude, voiceless except with strange notes of the wilder- ness, gravely oppressed the isolated family when father was away.

Under such circumstances it is not to be won- dered at that strong fearless men were conceded a kind of pre-eminence, nor that some of the coarser sort should boast of their prowess and swagger because of their strength. Now and then a bully would appear, and tyranically domineer over his associates, untii compelled to observe a more rational behavior by some public- spirited Samson who could beat reason into him. No less a personage than Abraham Lincoln once officiated in an affair of this kind. It is re- lated as a legend of the olden time, that one Jerry Buckles, of the Lake Fork settiement, be- ionging to a fighting family, had established his supremacy as "the best man in the country." Hearing that Andrew McCormick of Springfield bore the reputation of a powerful athlete and was the acknowledged chief at the game of fistcuffs about town, Buckles came to Springfieid and challenged McCormick to a pugilistic en- counter. McCormick appeared reluctant to en- gage and requested his challenger not to bother him. But Buckles insisted they should fight. Suddenly McCormick seized his antagonist and threw him over a horse rack iuto the street. As soon as he could rise from the ground after his signal discomfiture, Buckies put out his hand, acknowledged McCormick was the better man and asked him to take a drink. McCor- mick was later elected to the State Legisla- ture, and was one of "the Long Nine" so instru- mental in the removal of the capitai from Vandalia to Springfield.

Many in those days preferred settilng their differences by a triai of physical strength to ad- justing their quarrels through the courts-the iatter procedure being regarded with contempt as indicative of the mollycoddle.

Every portion of the North, South and East in our country contributed to the peopling of Sangamon County. Their coalescence resulted in the establishment of a sane, intelligent and enterprising community, from which sprang men of distingulsbed parts, some of whom at-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

taiued national fame. This chapter is not in- tended to be biographical nor a chronicle of events, but purports rather to set forth some of the conditions and influences which molded the soclety of later days. It may be closed appropriately by quoting a suggestive paragraph from Clark E. Carr :

"The great characters which Illinois has glveu to the world could never have been evolved from any other than a pioneer life. They will never again be equaled In our country until there appears some equally potential pioneer movement. It may be In morals, It may be In politics, It may be in soclety ; but it must be such an awakening as takes men out of them- selves and beckons them toward uew and un- explored regions of thought and aspiration."

CHAPTER VI.

COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

SANGAMON COUNTY ORGANIZED IN 1821-ORIGINAL

BOUNDARIES AND AREA-SUBSEQUENT REDUC- . TIONS AND PRESENT AREA-FIRST ELECTION AND FIRST OFFICERS-COUNTY SEAT LOCATED-FIRST COURT HOUSE AND JAIL LAND OFFICE ESTAB- LISHED-COUNTY BOUNDARIES CHANGED IN 1824- A COUNTY SEAT CONTEST-SPRINGFIELD BECOMES THE PERMANENT SEAT OF JUSTICE-DONATION AND SALE OF LOTS-SECOND AND THIRD COURT IIOUSES-LOCATION OF STATE CAPITAL-COURT AND COUNTY OFFICES IN RENTED BUILDING- FOURTH COURT HOUSE ERECTED IN 1845-NEW STATE CAPITOL-OLD STATE HOUSE BECOMES PRESENT COUNTY BUILDING-ENLARGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION-COURTS AND PUBLIC OFFICES.

(By George E. Keys.)

Sangamon County was organized by act of the Legislature, approved January 30, 1821, from portions of Madison and Bond Countles, its boundarles, as originally defined, being as follows: From the northcast corner of Town 12

Indian) Creek ; up said creek to its head ; thence through the middle of the prairie dividing the waters of the Sangamon and Mauvals Terre to the northwest corner of Town 12 North, 7 West of the Third Principal Meridian; thence east along the north line of Town 12 to the place of beginulng. This included all the territory in what constitutes the present counties of Cass, Menard, Logan, Mason, Tazewell, and parts of Christian, Macon, McLean, Woodford, Marshall and Putnam, making a total area of approxi- mately 4,800 square miles. This has been re- duced by successive changes resulting in the crea- tion, between 1824 and 1841, of five entire new counties and parts of six others from the original territory of Sangamon County, and bringing the latter down to its present area of 875 square miles.

ELECTION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS .- The first election was held in the new county, April 2, 1821, at the house of John Kelly, the first settler on the site of the present city of Spring- field, the definition of locallty at that time be- ing "on Spring Creek." William Drennan, Zacharlah Peter and Rivers Cormack were then elected County Commissioners and at once en- tered upon the duties of their office. Holding their first meeting the next day, they appointed Charles R. Matheny (head of the well-known Matheny famlly), Clerk of the County Commis- sioners' Court, a position which he held until hls death in 1839. He also held, for a time by appointment, the offices of Circuit Clerk, Re- corder and Probate Judge.

A week later, on April 10th, the Commission- ers held thelr second meeting, at which they proceeded "to fix a temporary scat of justice for the county," which they designated as "a certain polnt In the prairle near John Kelly's field, on the waters of Spring Creek, at a stake marked Z. V. D.," and adding that they "do further agree that the sald county seat be called and known by the name of Springfield." This point Is de- scribed as having been what Is now the north- west corner of Second and Jefferson Streets in the present city of Springfield, the first court house belng erected on the same spot.

THIE FIRST COURT HOUSE .- This meeting was attended by Commissioners Peter and Drennan, North, 1 West of the Third Principal Meridian, . and on the same date they entered into a con- extending north with that merldlan to the Illinols River ; thence down the middle of the IllInols River to the mouth of Balance or Negro (now tract with Mr. Kelly to construct a bullding to be used as a court house. According to the specifications this was to be built of logs, twenty

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

feet In length, one story high, with "plank floor, a good cabin roof, a door and window cut out, the work to be completed by the first day of May, next," for which Kelly was to receive a compensation of $42.50. As this part of the work approached completlon, the Commissioners entered Into a further contract with Jesse Bre- vard to finish the court house In the following manner, to-wit: "To be chinked outside and daubed inside; boards sawed and nailed on the inside cracks ; a good, sufficient door shutter to be made with good plank and hung with good iron hinges, with a latch; a window to be cut out faced and cased ; to contain nine lights, with a good sufficient shutter hung on the outside; a fire-place to be cut out seven feet wide, and a good sufficient wooden chimney, built with a good sufficient back and hearth"-the whole to be finished by the first of September following. For this part of the work Brevard was allowed $20.50. which, with $9.90 for some other items, including the Judge's seat and bar, and the $42.50 on the Kelly contract, made the total cost of the structure $72.50.

FIRST JAIL .- The Commissioners' Court as- sembled in the newly constructed court honse on June 4, 1821, and on the same day entered Into an agreement with Robert Hamilton to build a county jail to be completed by the first Monday In September next, for which he was to receive in compensation $84.75. This building was to be twelve feet square, constructed of square hewed logs, with a good cabin roof and with a window cut eight inches square between two logs, and protected by iron bars, and otherwise strengthened for the confinement of persons ac- cused of crime.

About this time the connty was divided into four election districts or precincts named re- spectively, Sangamon, Springfield, Richland and I'mlon, and two overseers of the poor were ap- pointed for each with three trustees to represent the county-at-large.

The amount of taxable propery, as returned to the County Commissioners' Court In July, 1823, was $129,112.50.

LAND OFFICE ESTABLISHED .- A Government Land Office was established at Springfield In 1823 and the first land entries on the site where the village was situated, were made the same year by Elijah Iies, Pascal P. Enos, D. P. Cook and Thomas Cox-Enos and Cox being. respect- ively at that time, Receiver and Registrar of the

Land Office. These lands embraced the four quarter-sections cornering at Second and Jeffer- son Streets. When the first town plat was made In 1822, the town was given the name "Calhoun," but the Goverment having In the meantime established a postoffice there by the name of Springfield, the name Calhoun was dropped.

BOUNDARIES CHANGED .- By act of the General Assembly of December 23, 1824, the arca of Sangamon County was modified and its bound- aries changed. by cutting off the portion of the original county north of Town 20, and a portion embracing the present County of Cass on the west, reducing the area by one-half. By this arrangement Sangamon County embraced what is now Menard County, a portion of Mason, about two-thirds of Logan and one-half of . Christian.

COUNTY SEAT CONTEST .- About this time there arose a sharp struggle over the issue look- ing to the permanent location of the county seat. The contestants in this struggle were Spring- field. then in temporary possession of the prize, and Sangamo, a village favorably situated on the south bank of the Sangamon River about seven miles northwest of Springfield. In the cam- paign of 1824, J. H. Pugh and Willlam S. Hamii- ton were competing candidates for Representa- tive In the General Assembly, Pugh as a cham- pion of Springfield and Hamilton as an advocate for Sangamo. While Hamilton was elected, Pugh went to Vandalia as a lobbyist and suc- ceeded in having the following citizens of other countles appointed commissioners permanently to locate the county seat, viz .; James Mason, Rowland T. Allen, Charles Gear and John R. Sloo. A provision in the act authorizing the lo- cation required, that the proprietors of the site selected should make a donation to the county of at least thirty-five acres as the site of a county building and to assist in the cost of con- struction. The Commissioners met on March 18, 1825, and after visiting and making an In- spection of the competing points, declared in favor of fixing the permanent location at Spring- field. Messrs. Iles, Enos and Cox, already mentioned as having made entries of land on contiguous sections in what is now the heart of the city of Springfield, at the first land sale, made a donation of forty-two acres, thus exceed- Ing the amount required by act of the Legis- lature. The land was deeded to the County

SANGAMON COUNTY COURT HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD

ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT BUILDING, SPRINGFIELD

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

Commissioners, and after being officially platted by Thomas M. Neal, an early lawyer of Spring- field, with the exception of one square (that which hecame the Capitol Square and is now occupied hy the present court house), was or- dered to he sold, the sale taking place May 2 and 3, 1825, with Neale as crier and Erastus Wright as clerk, the prices of the lots then sold ranging from $10.25 to $40.

A SECOND COURT 1IOUSE .- In July, 1825, the County Commissioners passed an order provid- ing for the erection of a new Court house, the structure to be of hrick and two stories in height, the cost not to exceed $3,000-a provision of the order beiug to the effect that one-half of the cost should be met by private subscriptious. This provision, however, failed and the project was abandoned. In September following a con- tract was entered into for the construction of a frame building at a cost of $449, and iu addi- tion of $70 for the construction of flues raising the total cost to $519. This building was erected on the northeast corner of Adams and Sixtlı Streets, where the Farmers National Bank now stands. The old log court house of 1821 was sold at auction about this time for $32, a little less than half the original cost.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the schedule of the property to be assessed under the order of Commissioners' Court, issued in 1827, included as taxable property "slaves and indentured or registered negro or mulatto Servauts."

THE THIRD COURT HOUSE .- The second Court house having served for five years, in February, 1830, steps were taken for the erection of a brick building, the County Court appointing three commissioners to have charge of the work. Coutracts were entered into for this purpose, of which $4,641 was on account and $2,000 for wood work, making a total of $6,841. This edifice was completed early in 1831, being located iu the center of the public square, which afterwards became the location of the State Capitol and is the seat of the present Court House. It is de- scrihed as a square building, two stories in height, with a hip-roof and a cupola rising on the center. From this time there was a tendency for business houses to collect as a most desir- able location about the public squares.

STATE CAPITAL-The location of the State Capital at Springfield iu 1837 brought another change in public huildings. To the pledge of the

citizens of Springfield to contribute $50,000 to the cost of a capitol huildiug, there was added the responsibility of furnishiug a site for the same. This was finally settled by the selection of the public square then occupied by the third court house upon which to erect a new State House. It was also prescribed by the same act that the State should have the use of the old State House until the new one should he com- pleted. The land for the new capitol site was secured at a cost to the city of $70,000 and con- veyed to the State, with the $200,000 paid by the county for State property, making the total cost to the city and county of the transfer of the capitol location $270,000. Although the property obtained from the State was paid for in 1867, the actual transfer did not take place until the partial completion of the new State House in January. 1876, the old building having beeu in use hy the State, in the meantime, for nearly nine years. The original cost of the old State House was $240,000, of which Springfield con- tributed $50,000, besides the site. It is estimated that the interest on the sum paid for the old State House between the time paid and the date of actual possession, would have amounted to $140,000, increasing the actual cost to $340,000.

Iu January, 1876, the new State Capitol nav- ing been so far completed as to make it possible to use it for office purposes, the old building was takeu possession of by the county and, in 1899, was enlarged hy raising the entire huilding in order that a lower story might be added without destroying the original form. The changes in- volved an expenditure of $175,000, making the total cost-without interest on sum paid for the building while it remained iu possession of the State-$375,000.

The building has three full stories besides ample basemuent for storage and heating pur- poses, with a hall on the fourth floor dedicated to the use of the Grand Army of the Republic. The other floors furnish ample accommodations for the Circuit and Prohate Courts, Board of Super- visors and other county officers. The huildiug is 123 by 90 feet in dimensions, and 154 feet in height to the top of the flag-staff. It is of pure Doric style of architecture, and it is a matter of pride to the citizens of Sangamon Couuty that the stone for its construction was obtained from quarries within the limits of the county.

COURTS AND PUBLIC OFFICERS .- Statistics re- garding courts in Sangamou County will be

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· HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

found in chapters on "Bench and Bar" and "Po- litical Representation," in other portions of this volume.

CITY OF SPRINGFIELD .- Springfield was Incor- porated as a town in 1832 and as a city in 1840. It has an altitude of 599 feet, and according to statistics of 1911, has au area of 8.6 square miles ; 163.16 miles of surveyed streets, of which 68.16 miles are paved; 68.33 mlles of sewers ; within its limits 36 miles of single track street railroads ; 77 miles of gas mains; nine parks with a total area of 446.87 acres; Water Works with a capacity for 8,000,000 gallons daily and 102 miles of water mains, the value of the plant being $800,000. The assessed valuation of prop- erty within the city limits in 1910 was $47,088,- 648, with a bonded indebtedness of $825,800.

CHAPTER VII.

SOME HISTORIC REMINISCENCES.

A OERMAN TRAVELER'S TOUR THROUGH ILLINOIS IN 1819-TRANSLATION OF HIS STORY AS TOLD IN THE GERMAN LANGUAGE-TRIP FROM VANDALIA TO THE SANOAMON COUNTRY-ENTHUSIASTIC DE- SCRIPTION OF "THE BEAUTIFUL LAND OF THE SANGAMON"-HIS VISIT TO THE SUGAR CREEK SETTLEMENT- DISCOVERY OF AN INDIAN CAMP GROUND ON SPRING CREEK-CROSSES THE SANGA- MON RIVER AND REACHES ELKHART GROVE- VISITS THE LATHAM FAMILY-AN OPTIMISTIC VIEW OF THE FUTURE OF ILLINOIS AND ITS WATERWAY FACILITIES-NAVIOABILITY OF THE SANGAMON RIVER IS TESTED THE STEAMER TALISMAN REACHES PORTLAND, THE LOCAL PORT OF SPRINOFIELD-AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION AND CELEBRATION OF THE EVENT-NEWSPAPER COMMENT-THE STEAMER BACKS OUT AND THE EXPERIMENT IS NEVER REPEATED.

(By Paul Selby.)

Some especially interesting reminiscences of early explorations in Illinois-including a tour through the "Sangamon Country"-are furnished in a volume from the pen of Mr. Ferdinand Ernst, a German traveler who visited this

country in 1819, and a report of whose explora- tions was published in the German language in Berlin in 1823. For the following excerpts from this volume the writer is indebted to a transiation contributed by Prof. E. D. Baker, of McKendree College, and published in "No. 8, Publications of the Historical Library of Illi- nois, 1903."

After having spent some time at Edwards- viile, Vandalia, and other points In Southern Illinois, Mr. Ernst determined to extend his tour to the "Sangamon Country," of the beautles of which he had heard much in his travels. In a letter under date of Vandalia, September 10, 1819, soon after the location of the State capi- tal there, and near the date of the Edwards- ville treaty, ceding the Indian lands in Central Illinois to the Government, he writes:

"In the vicinity of this town (Vandalia) Is a large amount of fine lands, but every one is fuli of praise for those which lie about sixty to eighty miles northward upon the river San- gamon."

As the titie to lands, including Vandalia had already been obtained from the Indians, Mr. Ernst concluded to build a log house there, about the same time having bought several lots in the future State capital. He then says:

"As soon as the building was far enough advanced that my companion was able to finish it alone, I started upon a journey to view the wonderful land upon the Sangamon before I re- turned to Europe. On the 27th of August, I, ac- " companied by a guide, set out upou this little+ journey. We were both monnted and had filled onr portmanteaus as bountifully as possible with food for man and horse, because upon such a journey in those regions, one cannot count upon much. A fine, well-traveled road leads thither from Edwardsville. In order to reach this, we rode out from Vandalia across Shoal Creek, and then northward into the prairie. We left the forest about the sources of Sugar and Silver creeks to the south, and in the vicinity of the groves about the sonrces of the Macoupin we came upon this road. We now touched upon points of timber on some branches of this river, which extend from the Illinois River through the greater part of the State from west to east and disappear about the source of the Okaw (Kaskaskia ) and upon the banks of the Wabash. This great pralrie is the dividing line of the waters flowing southward to the Mississippi and

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 27

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 864

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864